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Tool

The Tool December 2018 Newsletter is out, and since it’s mostly about me (of all people) I can assure you all there there is no actual Tool news contained within.

BMB: How do you get your Tool-related news? How regularly do you check other sites? Do you have sources with other sites that give you a heads up as well as friends close to a band member that give you some inside info? I remember giving someone news to give you that I couldn’t post officially. Did you get this? (It was from someone that knew Danny.)

MATT: These days, social media is the king for up to the minute Tool news. The Toolband Subreddit is probably my primary source of information these days – if something has been posted on the internet that’s Tool related, it’s normally on there sometimes within minutes of being posted. It’s a firehose like environment, with a range of Tool news and discussions coming thick and fast. On Fourtheye I tend to take the quality over quantity approach, and I think my readers prefer the more curated feed as opposed to the wild west of social media.

I have a few sources that give me snippets of info here and there, though I’d note that many of them have been pretty quiet the last few years. I don’t want to be that guy who keeps bugging people all the time, so tend to let them come to me with information if and when they have any. The common link is that they are almost always friends of Danny! A couple I know nothing about other than their email address, one in particular having provided a quite interesting recording from what I think was the Loft a few years ago…

I hope you enjoyed the list of our readers best albums for 2018, but before I head off to Tasmania for a little while, here’s my Top 10!

Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology

When a metal band writes a bunch of songs about slugs, you expect it to be a parody album, with little substance. In the case of this album, it contains some of the most brutal riffs to see the light of day on 2018.

Alice In Chains – Rainier Fog

The last Alice In Chains album was so forgettable, I had kinda given up hope that these guys could release another good album. But while I don’t think anyone will be throwing out Dirt just yet, these grunge stalwarts put out one of the best albums in their catalog, and one of the best of 2018.

Ken MODE – Loved

So much good music comes from Canada these days, and these guys are leading the way, both with their fantastic music and the DIY ethos. Loved is somewhat heavier and darker than their last album (which made my list back on 2015).

A Perfect Circle – Eat The Elephant

I started off with mixed feelings on this album, and wasn’t super impressed on the first listen. It continued to grow on me over time, and I know feel that it’s an excellent, albeit different album. It’s definitely the album I listened to the most in 2018, though probably not quite my favorite.

Revocation – The Outer Ones

Revocation are forever polishing their brand of thrash/death metal, and this album comes close to being their best. Killer riff after killer riff, wonderful musicianship and fantastic guitar solos. – what more could a metal fan want?

Pig Destroyer – Head Cage

Pig Destroyer are well regarding in the grindcore scene, and many expected their latest to be a blast beat laden tour de force. It is a great album, but the band have created their most “metal” album today, minimising the amount of fast grindcore

Cult Leader – A Patient Man

Cult Leader are an interesting band. Many punk/crust outfits tend to travel a well worn path – D-beat here, blast beat there, sometimes a bit of a break down. These guys do that too, but also throw in some interesting prog-like elements, including some stylistic changes and interesting time signatures.

I find the end of year best album lists quite interesting, as it quite often gives a good insight into music I haven’t heard before, and a general feel for what is considered “good” music. This year we had a bunch of votes from our Fourtheye readers, in order to establish what was “good” for 2018. No doubt some of you will think this is a great list, while others will laugh at the poor taste displayed by us all.

Personally, I think the list is a good one – I suspect there will be a few shared with my own top 10 (which I’ll publish tomorrow) and there’s no albums that stand out as being terrible (though one of the bands I personally find greatly overrated).

One theme of this years voting was the variance in the list. The voting was pretty level, with the number one album being the only one to gather a sizable number of votes. In fact about half the nominations only gathered a single vote. A list of all the albums that got more than one vote can be found in the forum.

Eat The Elephant – A Perfect Circle

I doubt anyone will be surprised to read that Eat The Elephant was the most popular album of 2018, just as I suspect no one will be surprised to see Tool’s new album top next years poll (hopefully). What may surprise you is that while it gathered almost twice as many votes as the second place, it didn’t really dominate numbers wise with only about 25% of voters choosing it. I think it’s a great album by the way, and very much deserving of a spot in the top 12.

Prequelle – Ghost

Did I mention that I find one of the bands on this list hugely overrated? I find these guys pretty bland an uninteresting, but a bunch of you disagree.

The Sciences – Sleep

Stoner metal pioneers Sleep haven’t released an album in quite some time, and this latest was critically acclaimed by many in the music industry, as well as our Fourtheye readers. Personally, I thought it was a pretty decent album, but doesn’t really stack up against Dopesmoker.

Bad Witch – Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails are a band that never seem to get old for Fourtheye readers. Bad Witch was a relatively lo-fi and fuzzy album, and tries to capture a slightly different mood to their other recent releases. It’s certainly an album that has it’s moments, but for me probably not high in my list if NIN albums.

Ordinary Corrupt Human Love – Deafheaven

These “hipsters” seem to cope a bit of flak for daring to push black metal in interesting directions. The fact is though, they seem to be getting better with each release, and probably not coincidentally, less and less cvlt. A beautiful album that is definitely worth a listen!

Rainier Fog – Alice In Chains

90s stalwarts Alice In Chains are another band along with NIN that are popular with Tool fans. No real surprises there, though I expect many are still split on the direction of the band since Layne passed away. After releasing what I though was a bit of a dud a couple of years ago, Jerry & co. have come back with a very strong release, one that I personally think is their strongest on the post-Layne era.

Automata I & II – Between The Buried & Me

Between the Buried & Me released Automata this year in two parts, and for the purposes of this poll I’ve elected to bundle them together. Which part is the best? Probably II, but both albums from these prog metal veterans are well worth your time.

Our Raw Heart – Yob

After a life threatening illness, Yob guitarist Mike Scheidt wrote the bands latest opus – Our Raw Heart. It doesn’t deviate far from their well established doom metal sound, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This album topped many top 10 metal lists for 2018, so no real surprise to see it here as well.

You Won’t Get What You Want – Daughters

Daughters were a relatively unknown band when they broke up a few years ago, but having reformed and created a great comeback album, all of a sudden they’re the ducks nuts! No arguments from me though – I’m one of the few who thought they were good back in the day, so very happy to see them up and about again!

Book of Bad Decisions – Clutch

Clutch may make bad decisions, but they rarely make bad albums! One of the best live bands going around, they once more deliver with a collection of catch and quirky rock tunes.

Sonder – TesseracT

Djent is a dirty word to some, and hence many will never listen to TesseracTs excellent work. To call them djent is underselling it (though they certainly do use aspects of that sub-genre) – their real beauty is how they weave this into some excellent progressive metal.

Year of the Snitch – Death Grips

Another band in the “love them or hate them” gallery. This abrasive experimental hip hop act has released an album which features Tool‘s Justin Chancellor on one track. The rest of the album is pretty good to, but probably not for everyone!

Blair‘s Tool Newsletter for November 2018 is out now. It highlights a recent visit to LA following the Malibu fires, where Blair catches up with Danny Carey and a few other regulars from the Tool family. The good news is that Blair managed to hear at least part of the new album, though keeps it spoiler free:

While walking to his car (parked on yet another deficient alley), Danny emerged from the studio and insisted that we hear a couple of new Tool songs before we left. (Not the final mix.) Yes! Climbing into the Porche, I remarked that a cave man probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it was better than Kent’s BMW because he would be so astonished at seeing an automobile that little details wouldn’t matter. While reclined in the passenger seat (with both Sturgeon guitarists comfortably in the back), Danny put the CD into the tray and selected track 3… (No spoilers here, which I’m sure you’ll thank me for later.)

To indulge in a little speculation: Blair suggests that it’s not the final mix. The glass half full people (myself included) would take this to be that Tool are in the process of finalising the mix of the album – meaning that tracking has finished (including vocals) and that we’re perhaps on track for a release sometime before touring kicks off in 2019. The more cynical among us might say that they’ll believe a new album is coming out when they actually see it. Some are still waiting for the non-hoax version of 10,000 Days is released.

Also Danny has a Porsche Panamera now, which I believe is in addition to his Lamborghini. Perfect for a growing family!

The Welcome to Rockville festival social media team today posted a video on Facebook, promising to reveal the lineup for the 2019 event in 13 days. The video very strongly hints that Tool will be the headline act, featuring some of their artwork as well as a snippet from Mantra.

The festival is usually held in late April, which somewhat coincides with Coachella which I’d also expect to be announced around then.

I haven’t done a happy birthday post in a while, mostly because I’m lazy. Well, this time around I’m not, and I’m also keen to post something on the site, since actual news is hard to come by! November 19 is Justin Chancellor‘s birthday! Not sure how he’s celebrating the day, but I’m sure many of us would be happy for he to have a day off from making the new album.

Just one day though…

To celebrate, here’s one of my favorite JC clips, some footage captured by Al Jones a few years back where we get to hear his excellent bass tone during Parabola.

The latest Tool Newsletter – the October 2018 edition is now online. It’s a reasonably brief update from Blair, mostly highlighting the new tour dates but also has a positive snippet:

On Monday, October 8th at 1:35 AM I received an enthusiastic text message from Danny. Without going into specifics, he REALLY liked what he heard in the studio that night. Therefore, I assume that the recording progress is going quite well for everyone involved.

While it’s hard to glean too much definitive information, “everyone involved” could be interpreted as including Maynard, and the date suggests that it’d be close to the time Maynard would need to wrap up the vocals before he hits the road with A Perfect Circle.

So while “any day now” sounds pretty promising, I find it hard to get too excited, as it would seem unlikely that Tool have been long out of the studio, and there’s no real confirmation that Maynard has recorded anything yet (though the optimist in me hopes he has).

So I think the quote in this tweet is a bit of hyperbole, but still it will be interesting to get an update from Adam himself on how things are going, and what kind of timeline we can expect.

Thanks to Gareth Osterloh for the tip!

Update: Ivonna has clarified her tweet and confirmed Adam said “it should be DONE anyday now”, which by my interpretation is most likely referring to the general recording process.

Here’s the tweet:

This tweet struck true controversy! I have been working on new episodes , events, content. I couldn't answer all! I can now! Adam's words to me "it should be DONE anyday now". I said "I can't wait, man" he said "believe me neither can we". Sincere. @Tool

Tool fan Richard Keenan has been posting on Facebook recently about a set of Aenima DAT tapes, which are a series of recordings, both released and unreleased from the Aenima sessions. Today Richard shares with us the story of how he obtained these tapes. It’s an interesting read, and maybe these recordings will see the light of day eventually:

The story of my DAT tapes. Here is how the story goes. When ZOO Entertainment was liquidating JOE went to visit LOU at ZOO. Lou passed him the RIAA Award presented to skip Peterson. He was there to pick up some stuff. As he was walking out this BOX of DATS was sitting on LOU’s desk.. JOE asked him what is that box can I take it. LOU said No sorry I can’t give those away. Joe said no problem and proceeded to leave. At the last minute LOU SAYS, JOE ! take this box and do not tell anybody where you go them. For most of you who know this page I been collecting Tool for a very long time. I also use to be a power seller on ebay. Seems the money I made on Ebay went straight into Tool swag lol. I do not think I ever transferred funds to my Personal bank account ha. Back in the early 2000 I had met a lot of people within the music collecting and selling hobby .This 1 guy I met ,We will call him ‘JOE” own’s a website of super rare promo cd’s. He was a friend for 4 years and I purchased a few items from him. He always and still has TOP brand new promo copies never played. I had him keep a eye out for The AENIMA PROMO . After a few deals and trust was gained he explained to me how he comes across all his stuff.

Turns out he lives in REDONDO beach California.Being in the L.A region he grew up knowing and having many personal friends in the music industry. He explained to me, When companies make promo cd and what not, handful of copies are passed around to employees within the company and people who did not want them just tossed them out in the garbage can. He would make his rounds from company to company seeking PROMO stuff and sometimes yes dig in the garbage. As funny as this sounds he has a very successful website today and is doing very well. These days he just gets a phone call to pick up stuff.

Sometime in mid 2000 I travelled to California to visit record stores I was buying from for ages online and wanted to go hand pick items. So now here I was in L.A.

I messaged JOE and told him I was in the area and I wanted to met him personally so we hooked up at a Starbucks in REDONDO right buy the Pier.

I was actually picking something up from him. Once we met him personally he said to me . I have a warehouse full of stuff and need to look around for some items I know you will like but he said I cannot tell you. So we parted ways … About 3 days after that he called me up and said I found what I been looking for do you want to hook up so I can show you .. Well DUHHHH of course lol.. I zipped up to Redondo from San Diego that day and met up for another coffee.

Here we are back at the Starbucks and I see Joe holding 2 items. A small box and a RIAA AWARD presented to SKIP PETEFRSON. You can see the award in my photo I already have posted it . NOW ! and only after I see the RIAA Award he hands me a small box. When I opened the box WHAMO !!!! 27 STUDIO DAT TAPES FROM ZOO ENTERTAINMENT.. WTF.To be honest I had no Idea what they really were , But I know they were RARE AS HEN”s TEETH and I have never seen such thing before. I asked WTF is this. He said to me This Box is Tool studio work from Zoo Entertainment. He said a price, I paid and away I went. No way I was walking away from this box.

Here is how the story goes. When ZOO Entertainment was liquidating JOE went to visit LOU at ZOO. Lou passed him the RIAA Award presented to skip Peterson. He was there to pick up some stuff. As he was walking out this BOX of DATS was sitting on LOU’s desk.. JOE asked him what is that box can I take it. LOU said No sorry I can’t give those away. Joe said no problem and proceded to leave. At the last minute LOU SAYS, JOE ! take this box and do not tell anybody where you go them. So Joe put these dats in his warehouse and forgot about them for 15 years until I started buying Tool stuff from him.

To be very honest I had no idea how important these dats were because I could not play therm.. Joe also gave me a DENON DAT PLAYER so I could play the tapes. However your need a amp and all that stuff and I was on Vacation/ Vinyl shopping so Had no access to equipment to listen to it. Finally back home I decided one day to give these tapes a shot. I hooked up my dat player popped in a Tape and WHAMO ! the machine ate the tape !!!!!!!!!! MY heart started racing. then I gathered myself up, grabbed a screwdriver and open the thing up. . I saved the tape none the less and smashed the machine with a baseball bat HA . So I would never be tempted to put a tape in it again.

Only after I joined FB I met someone who was explaining to me how important it is to play these taps because I might have something the world has not heard. I purchased a MINI SONY dat recorder and played them all.

There is 1 song that has never been heard Live from Irwindale 93 show, and 4 tracks mixed by Skinny puppy 2 STINKFIST TRACKS and 2 H. tracks. one of the Stinkfist can be heard on youtube if you google. it.

So here is the story of my DAT’sThis is the longest posting I have ever done haha.Enjoy !

Here’s a link to the original post. There could be more information to come.